Direktna Banka ( sr, Директна Банка) was a Serbian bank based in
Kragujevac
Kragujevac ( sr-Cyrl, Крагујевац, ) is the fourth largest city in Serbia and the administrative centre of the Šumadija District. It is the historical centre of the geographical region of Šumadija in central Serbia, and is situated on ...
. It ceased with operations in December 2021, after it was merged with the Serbian branch of the
Eurobank Ergasias
The Eurobank Group is a financial organisation that operates in Greece, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Serbia, Bulgaria and UK. As of December 2018, the Eurobank Group counts, in assets, 653 customer service locations in Greece and abroad, and 13,162 emp ...
, forming Eurobank Direktna.
History
The origins of the banks date back to 1871 when it was founded in
Kingdom of Serbia
The Kingdom of Serbia ( sr-cyr, Краљевина Србија, Kraljevina Srbija) was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Prin ...
as "Kragujevačka okružna štedionica". In the beginning, bank served Šumadija region. Over the coming decades its operation was at the mercy of the region's eventful social and geopolitical history.
Following
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
and establishment of
Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...
, it re-established operation as "Komunalna banka" in 1955. In 1970, the bank was merged into the state owned "Jugobanka".
1991–2016
In July 1991, in the midst of the breakup of
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...
, it started operating independently within Jugobanka system as "Jugobanka Jubanka" a.d. Kragujevac.
In 2000, Šumadija banka a.d. Kragujevac was merged into the bank.
In June 2001, the Board of bank agreed on the name change, thus adopting the name "Credy banka". In December 2004, Srpska regionalna banka a.d. Beograd was merged into Credy banka, further expanding its network in Serbia.
On 2 September 2013, Credy banka changed its name to "KBM Banka" a.d Kragujevac, due to change in ownership structure.
2016–2021
In February 2016, Serbian businessmen Andrej Jovanović and Bojan Milovanović (former owners and founders of Serbian
potato chip
A potato chip (North American English; often just chip) or crisp (British and Irish English) is a thin slice of potato that has been either deep fried, baked, or air fried until crunchy. They are commonly served as a snack, side dish, or ap ...
food company
Marbo Product) bought the KBM Banka from the Slovenian Nova KBM d.d. bank.
On 8 July 2016, KBM Banka a.d. Kragujevac changed its name into "Direktna Banka" a.d. with headquarters in Kragujevac.
In November 2016, Direktna Banka bought 100% of shares of the Serbian commercial bank Findomestic Bank Serbia from the French
BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas is a French international banking group, founded in 2000 from the merger between Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP, "National Bank of Paris") and Paribas, formerly known as the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas. The full name of the grou ...
.
Findomestic Bank operated in Serbia from 2006 to 2016 and was a leader in
car finance
Car finance refers to the various financial products which allow someone to acquire a car, including car loans and leases.
Car purchases
The most common method of buying a car in the United States is borrowing the money and then paying it of ...
loan
In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...
s.
After this acquisition, Direktna Banka had around 400 employees and total assets worth around 200 million euros.
In November 2017, Direktna Banka bought another Serbian commercial bank
Piraeus Bank Beograd from the Greek
Piraeus Bank, for a sum in range of 58–61 million euros.
The projections for complete merge to be completed was by the first quarter of 2018, and thus way Direktna Banka would have a total assets worth over 500 million euros.
In July 2021, the Greek
Eurobank a.d. and Direktna Banka agreed to merge units on Serbian market by the end of 2021; when complete, the Eurobank will control 70% of shares, while owners of Direktna Banka will control the remaining 30% of shares of new bank unit. The banck ceased operations and since 13 December 2021, it is merged with the Serbian branch of Eurobank, thus forming Eurobank Direktna.
See also
*
List of banks in Serbia
This is a list of banks in Serbia.
Central bank
* National Bank of Serbia
Commercial banks
As of 4 May 2022, there are 22 licensed commercial banks in Serbia. For each of them, there is a balance sheet total and number of employees as of 31 De ...
References
External links
* {{Official website, https://www.eurobank-direktna.rs
Banks established in 1995
Banks disestablished in 2021
Banks of Serbia
Serbian companies established in 1995